What's it all about Alfie? Cat's life saved by rare pacemaker operation

An elderly cat had his life saved by an "extremely rare" operation to insert a pacemaker on his heart. 

Alfie's owners became concerned when the 12-year-old pet became wobbly on his feet and kept collapsing.

When he keeled over 15 times in one day they took him to the vets who diagnosed cardiac problems and said Alfie needed a pacemaker fitted urgently to save his life.

Southfields Vets in Basildon called in a specialist surgeon as it was the first time they had ever carried out the complex operation.

The vets said while fitting pacemakers to dogs was fairly common, the operation is far more complicated in cats as the device has to be surgically implanted while the patient's heart is kept alive by an external pacemaker.

The operation was carried out by surgeon Esteban Gonzàlez Gasch and Jon Wray, an expert in cardiology.

Mr Wray said Alfie's heart condition - called third degree atrioventricular block - was particularly severe and meant his heart was not able to beat properly, which made him collapse.

He said: “This is an unusual surgery to perform and the first time this procedure has been carried out at Southfields.

"The procedure involves placing and suturing the pacemaker lead on the beating heart and requires close coordination between the surgical, anaesthesia and cardiology teams."

Mr Wray said he was delighted Alfie had made such an excellent recovery.

Alfie’s owners, John and Anita Pearson from Southend, said: “We were obviously worried as it was a complex procedure but were very relieved we could give him a second chance.

"He is now back to being the Alfie we knew, exploring, being very cuddly and purring a lot!”

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